How a Blue State Elects a Red Senate

By FORD FESSENDEN

Published: April 1, 2012

New York is reliably, if not emphatically, aDemocratic state. Barack Obama won alandslide here in 2008. In 2010, whenDemocrats took a shellacking elsewhere, NewYork elected 21 Democratic members ofCongress, and just eight Republicans. Yet theState Senate, with a brief exception after the2008 election, has been consistently controlledby Republicans. Why? FORD FESSENDEN

Divided government

For one thing, New Yorkers mayprefer it that way, perhaps in thesame way national voters elect adivided Congress. New Yorkersare more likely to vote Republican -- or for the ConservativeParty, which often runs the samecandidates -- in State Senateelections than in other races.

Underpopulating upstate districts

State Senate district populationcompared with average

Cracking and packing

Percentage blackand Hispanic

The Legislature this year redrew the State Senate districts to reflectpopulation changes identified in the 2010 census. Courts have generallyallowed districts to vary in population by as much as 5 percent above orbelow the average. The new districts, approved in a deal with theAssembly and the governor, do this in a systematic way: Upstate, whereRepublicans are strongest, every district is underpopulated, while in NewYork City, a Democratic stronghold, the districts are overpopulated.Republicans hope that by maximizing the number of Republican-leaningdistricts, they will increase their odds of retaining control.

The districts are also drawn in a way that divides some predominantlyDemocratic areas -- a practice opponents call ''cracking'' -- andconsolidates others, referred to as ''packing.'' This practice hasbenefited Republicans in the past -- on Long Island, for example, allnine state senators are Republican even though the region has electedDemocrats and Republicans to Congress and the Assembly. The newdistrict lines are being scrutinized by the Justice Department to makesure they do not discriminate against minorities, and are also thesubject of court challenges.

Contiguous (barely) and compact (not so much)

The State Constitution requiresdistricts to be compact andconnected. Technically, thenew Senate districts areconnected, but compactness isdebatable. Critics argue thatsome districts have beencontorted to avoid certainneighborhoods and extendedacross the landscape inspaghettilike tethers to pull inother territories. This is largelyseen as an effort to protectincumbents of both parties.One indication of gerrymandering:the new districts require9,326 miles of lines to draw;the old districts needed 8,822.

District 22 in Brooklyn is typical:Common Cause called it the''Marty Golden gerrymander,''naming it for the Republicanincumbent. The Legislature addedManhattan Beach to the district bysnaking a narrow corridor alongSheepshead Bay for more than amile. The district's perimeterincreased to 41 miles from 37miles. And the district nowincludes a neighborhood where 60percent of the voters cast ballotsfor Senator John McCain in 2008.Still, the courts have largelyabandoned efforts to enforcecompactness standards unlessdistricts are bizzare or dramaticallyirregular.